Fanny and Alexander poster

Fanny and Alexander

★ 9.0 5K votes 1983–1983 1 seasons · 5 episodes Ended SVT1
Child's perspectiveEvents seen through children's eyes.This show: 9/10Family sagaBonds and fractures across generations of one family.This show: 9/10MelancholicA wistful sadness woven through the story, even in its lighter moments.This show: 8/10BittersweetJoy and loss mixed so thoroughly they can't be separated.This show: 8/10Visually strikingComposition and imagery worth pausing for.This show: 8/10Character studyInterior life matters more than plot.This show: 8/10AtmosphericMood and place thick enough to touch.This show: 8/10Period pieceSet meaningfully in a past era.This show: 8/10
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Starring
Ewa FrölingBörje AhlstedtJarl KulleBertil GuveGunn WållgrenPernilla Allwin
Starring
Ewa FrölingBörje AhlstedtJarl KulleBertil GuveGunn WållgrenPernilla Allwin
Ratings per Episode
246810
Votes per Episode
0100200300400

Fanny and Alexander Episode Ratings Heatmap

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About

"A childhood memory turned into cinema"

Set in a wealthy Swedish theatrical family at the turn of the twentieth century, the story follows young Alexander and his sister Fanny through a lavish, love-filled Christmas, and then through the cold cruelty of their mother's new marriage to a stern bishop. Told largely through a child's eyes, it drifts between warm sensory detail and creeping dread, blending memory, superstition, and family myth. Bergman's pacing is patient and novelistic, more interested in atmosphere and feeling than plot momentum, and it rewards slow, attentive viewing rather than casual watching.

Watch it for

the immersive, novel-like richness of Bergman's autobiographical family saga.

Maybe skip if

you want brisk pacing rather than a slow, atmospheric, several-hour family chronicle.

Written by our AI editor to help you decide, spoiler-free by design.

All Seasons

Miniseries1984
8.71K55h 23m
As children in the loving Ekdahl family, Fanny and Alexander enjoy a happy life with their parents, who run a theater company. After their father dies unexpectedly, however, the siblings end up in a joyless home when their mother, Emilie, marries a stern bishop. The bleak situation gradually grows worse as the bishop becomes more controlling, but dedicated relatives make a valiant attempt to aid Emilie, Fanny and Alexander.
EpTitleRatingYoursVotesRuntime
1Familjen Ekdahl firar jul8.5
32096 min
2Vålnaden8.6
28641 min
3Uppbrottet8.7
27939 min
4Sommarens händelser9.0
27260 min
5Demonerna9.0
26687 min

Full Cast & Crew

Cast

Ewa Fröling Emilie Ekdahl
Börje Ahlstedt Carl Ekdahl
Jarl Kulle Gustav Adolf Ekdahl
Bertil Guve Alexander Ekdahl
Gunn Wållgren Helena Ekdahl
Pernilla Allwin Fanny Ekdahl
Allan Edwall Oscar Ekdahl
Erland Josephson Isak Jacobi
Jan Malmsjö Biskop Edvard Vergerus
Harriet Andersson Justina

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